


the intersection of two beams of light

by minimiwrite



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: Canon Compliant, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Spoilers through S4 of the original CFV, well mostly canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 15:37:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17347877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minimiwrite/pseuds/minimiwrite
Summary: Asaka finds that spilling tea, literally and figuratively, is a great way to open up new venues of conversation.





	the intersection of two beams of light

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be a 4-5k-ish work and now its a big Yikes
> 
> i hope you enjoy it anyways

Things go wrong from the very start of a new school year. It’s amazing how quickly Asaka’s immaculate plans go from perfection to completely wrecked with the one addition of a certain blue haired idol to her school’s Vanguard team. It’s almost to the point where she’s almost kind of impressed; everything from her playstyle to her outfits are coordinated according to plan and it’s the first time almost everything has fallen to pieces. It’s unfair to blame it all on Suiko, but it’s easier for her to process the general anxiety and frustration as anger at her, the other a surprisingly simple target to focus her ire on.

Everything about Suiko gives her a headache; how close she became with Ren immediately, how she rose to the top of the rankings in just a few weeks when it took Asaka a better part of the year, how she makes perfect coffee, and even, and Asaka hates admitting this the most, just how damn  _ pretty  _ Suiko actually was (as long as she was being honest with herself, maybe she would have tried pursuing the idol, if she wasn’t completely frustrating to be around). Everytime she has to look at the other girl, she finds herself competing; it’s not like how it was with Misaki Tokura, another (admittedly very cute) girl that Ren took an interest in a while ago, when they could chat casually and play Vanguard every now and then. Suiko became a facet of Asaka’s daily life, a plain statement of who she needed to be and what she needed surpass to stay by Ren’s side. She couldn’t just walk away from her. 

But, she idly supposes, that’s what she’s doing right now, on the train to some cafe in a different part of town. Asaka doesn’t know much about it, but it has high reviews from many customers so she figures it can’t be all that bad; it’s far enough from Fukuhara that she doesn’t need to worry about running into anyone that she knows, but close enough that if Ren needs anything, she could run back (hopefully paired with a coffee that knocks Suiko’s out of the park). It’s frustrating to be doing nothing, but the dull ache in her skull and the spike of inferiority she feels whenever Suiko is even just in the same room makes her want to punch a hole through a wall, so she swallows down her feelings and hopes that some good coffee will drown them.

She walks through the cafe doors, the small bells jingling behind her before freezing in her tracks, a similarly shocked customer staring quietly back at her. There’s a lot of things you can do and say when one of your one true love’s greatest rivals is staring at you in a coffee shop, nursing what seems to be a hot drink. Unfortunately, as per the what seems to be becoming the usual, Asaka fails to do any of them, staring straight back with what she probably thinks is a rather comical expression. In another life, she would have just walked past him easily. On a different day, she would have been able to pretend she didn’t know him or just nod, buy her coffee, and leave. But, today, when she had to watch Suiko cling onto Ren’s arms and offer him coffee with her nice voice and her nice face and her nice personality? She feels personally attacked by a god she didn’t believe in.  

“Uhm. Hi, Asaka.” Aichi punctuates his awkward greeting with an equally awkward wave, smiling thinly. He’s in a high school uniform now, a bit lankier, and less baby faced than before; she thinks he might actually be a little endearing before realizing that he still had his hand up, as though he forgot that he had put it there. 

Asaka clears her throat, pulling out and sitting down at a chair in front of Aichi without really thinking about why, trying to gather her thoughts. “Hi. Aichi.” His hand is still up, so against her better judgement, she grabs it and shakes it twice firmly, letting go immediately after. Aichi squeaks in what she thinks is embarrassment before finally putting his hand around the handle of the mug. 

The moment of silence stretched from what was simply a little awkward to increasingly uncomfortable, and Asaka found herself about to stand up to just leave the cafe, coffee be damned, but Aichi shifts in his seat (and looks like a kicked puppy, his bangs almost like floppy ears) and sends her a pained smile. “So, uhm… I see don’t Ren around… Usually, you’re with him, right?” 

Briefly, Asaka wonders if she did something wrong in her past life before placing her face in her hands and sighing. “He’s… preoccupied, right now.” That wasn’t a lie. Suiko and Vanguard took up most of Ren’s time. If it’s not one, it’s the other, with no room for herself. 

“O-oh…” Aichi’s voice trailed off, his eyes staring deep into his drink, turning it in his hands. “Uh, he’s doing okay, though, right?” 

“He’s  _ fine _ . He’s doing great without me there.” She feels bad for snapping, the situation could literally be the furthest thing from Aichi’s fault, but he’s here, and he’s listening, and that’s the most she’s gotten from anyone this entire day. Asaka lifts her eyes up from the safe refuge of her fingers and instead of the mostly hurt but vaguely pitying eyes she expects, she’s met with a vaguely hurt but gently understanding look. It makes her feel worse, somehow. “Sorry. It’s been a long day. Ren is busy with other things right now, so I’m by myself.” The half hearted apology is the best she can muster; even if it doesn’t sound like it, it was as sincere as she could mean it to be. “How about you? Is Kai around?” She looks around, stops, realizing her mistake. “Oh. Did I interrupt your date with him?” She really can’t think of any other reason that quiet, demure Aichi who likes his milk with some room for bland coffee would be here at a nice cafe, barely sipping his bought drink. 

Things, as she should have expected, go wrong. Aichi drops his drink, the contents spilling onto the table, Asaka letting out a bit of a shriek when some of it lands on her white school skirt. Aichi himself lets out a flustered yell before grabbing all the available napkins near him and tries to reach over to dry the offensive liquid off of her, but in the process, places his own hand and blazer’s sleeve into the spilled coffee, squeaking in pain when the heat finally registers and dropping the napkins in his other hand into the mess as well. One of the cafe staff members runs over with two damp towels as the two try to clean themselves off desperately with the few napkins they have left. 

Both of them are bright red now, and even while the cafe worker gently laughs it off and takes her order, it’s hard to play off the embarrassment Asaka feels for causing such a scene. She was a representative for Ren, in AL4, one of the best Vanguard teams in the entire world, and here she was, barely keeping it together over one spilled cup of coffee. She thinks briefly that Suiko would probably laugh at her, but deep in her gut, she knows that the other girl would also probably do her best to help out (it was frustrating how much better she was, not only in Vanguard, but just as a person as well). She doesn’t even want to think about how Ren would react. 

“I’m sorry.” Aichi looks crushed, his face in splotches of red that match some of her brightest shades of lipstick. “I, I didn’t mean to, I was just… surprised.“ 

“That I was right?” Asaka responded wryly. She figured that about everyone had a better love life than her at the given moment; a generally decent assumption, given the circumstances. 

“No!” Aichi’s voice jumped up an octave as well as volume, before he realized that they were still in the cafe and drooping again, the red creeping up his ears. “I, Kai and I aren’t, we’re not involved like that.” 

“You’re not?!” Asaka leaned forward slightly, staring into Aichi’s bewildered eyes. “Did you two break up then…?”

“Wh-what? Of course not, we’re just friends!” Aichi’s hands waved in front of him as he shook his head vigorously. “I, I’ve never! I’ve never dated anyone in my life!” 

Asaka bit her lip. Did Aichi really think she was that dumb? Did he really think that she wouldn’t know what his not-so-subtle looks between him and Kai meant? She’s not going to take this one lying down. “So that entire time with psyqualia, when the word Kai was about fifty percent of your vocabulary. That was just you two being friends?”

Aichi nodded vigorously, the red reaching down his throat and up his ears. 

There’s plenty of evidence, so she just continues onwards. “Well, what about the test of courage then, last summer?” 

“Kai… didn’t want to participate, so he lead me off the path.” 

“To a beautiful cliff top surrounded with stars? Just the two of you. Without anyone else.” 

“Maybe, maybe it sounds a little romantic, but we’re not… dating.” Aichi is so red at this point, Asaka almost swears she sees steam coming out of the top of his head. She almost feels bad enough to stop. Almost. 

“What about you cradling him in your arms during the Asia Circuit?” She may have disappeared first, but she saw Kai swoon into Aichi’s arms like a sad lost maiden. The role fit surprisingly well. 

“He was falling!” Aichi seems like he’s on the edge of tears now. “I did what any friend would.”

“Laying him down gently in your lap and ignoring the world falling apart around you to talk to him?” 

“... Yes?” 

She breathes a sigh out, staring straight at Aichi’s face. “What about… like…” She gestured vaguely at all of Aichi. “This?”

He points at himself shakily. “Me?” 

Asaka groans and places her face again into her hands. “Yes.” Her reply was muffled somewhat. “You’re always looking at him like... like he’s the sun. The light of your life. The best thing that happened to you. Or something like that.” She finishes lamely. Aichi doesn’t seem like he’s lying, but the entire situation was just too much to believe; he was as almost obvious as her, in some regards, and she respects Aichi and Kai’s intelligence enough to believe that it’s not just their unbelievable density. 

“I… We’re not dating.” 

Another span of silence separates the two of them, the rift widening to an insurmountable distance. Aichi seemed completely unable to speak, put into a state of flushed embarrassment. He wasn’t lying, Asaka realizes blandly, but the amount of tension between Aichi and Kai was to the point where it felt like he was. She takes another good look at the younger boy in front of her; Aichi had his face in his hands now, his fingers a pale white and shoulders shaking, his palms hiding the bright red flush that stained his face. 

“Okay. But you wish you were, right?” 

Aichi doesn’t say a word, barely moving. She really doesn’t want to believe that Aichi could be  _ that  _ dense; he had beaten out Team AL4 for the Asia Circuit championship, and to think that someone had won against her when he didn’t even realize when he had it this bad for someone else? That was even more unbecoming than the coffee stain. 

“I would… like it.” Aichi’s soft confession brought her momentary relief. “But I don’t think Kai would.” 

She barely suppressed another groan. He really was dense, though thankfully, not to his own feelings. “Trust me on this one. Kai’s probably got it just as bad for you as you do him.” Unlike Ren, Kai was just about as subtle as Aichi was. It was easy to read the two of them. 

“What?” The blank shock on Aichi’s face as he lifted his still glowing face out of his hands almost made her scream. She doesn’t want to believe that she lost to this lovesick fool (she has to be fair though, she’s just as much of a lovesick fool as he is). 

“The entire time he was in AL4? He was probably thinking of you.” She added in nonchalantly as the server brought her a small slice of cake in a box and her mug of coffee. “Only reason why I could think that he joined but ended up watching every single one of your matches on the screen instead of preparing for ours.” She generously gives Aichi a moment to take in the information, before continuing. “You should just ask him out.”

“But… what if he doesn’t return my feelings?” Aichi’s soft voice floated over to her, the vulnerability stark in his voice (she envies how open he could be; maybe if she could just talk to Ren and Suiko, the entire matter would be worked out).

“Well, I don’t think that’ll happen.” Her reply is curt and she means to leave it like that, but Aichi’s drooping figure makes her sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose. Asaka might be not be the kindest person in the world, but leaving Aichi like this seems like kicking a puppy and then leaving it out in the rain. It’s too much even for her. “But…” She leans forward again, catching Aichi’s eyes. “Here’s an idea. What’s Kai’s favorite drink?”

Aichi looks taken aback, puzzled shock briefly quieting him. “Either lemon tea or coffee with some room for cream and milk.” He hesitated. “That’s what he got when we stopped at conbinis while going to tournaments.” 

That’s a surprise. She would’ve thought Kai a black coffee person. He’s oddly delicate in some ways, Asaka thinks. “Okay. Buy him a lemon tea here. It’s still early after school, so go back to whatever cardshop you think he might be in and give it to him, and say that you thought of him when you saw it on the menu.” 

“Huh?”

“Look, it’s nice to get gifts from people, and it’s a nice feeling to know that someone was thinking of you. Getting him his favorite drink isn’t just a random gift that you thought of. It means you paid attention to him and thought about what he likes too. Isn’t that something special? Someone paying attention to you like that?” Asaka wonders if it’s giving away too much of herself to say things like that (she wishes fervently that Ren would think about her sometimes too). She shrugs. “He’ll probably fall for you even more.”

“You’ve… thought this through?” Aichi seems taken aback. “Not that I’m not grateful for the advice, but…”

“It’s something I’ve been trying for the past few years. It works really well for cheering Ren up, but he’s usually just the same as always anyways.” She lifts up the box holding the cake slice with a tight smile. “I mean, this is for Ren. He has a bit of a sweet tooth and likes trying out new things. We’ve never been to this cafe before so I thought that he might like it. His favorite is strawberry, so this is their strawberry shortcake.” 

“That’s really nice of you Asaka.” Aichi has a gentle smile on his face, all sincerity and genuine emotion. “I’m sure he really appreciates it. At least, I really appreciate the advice.” Aichi laughed awkwardly, looking away from her. “The last time I took advice about this, it didn’t go well.”

“Hm?” That caught her interest. “What happened?” 

“I, uhm… Miwa told me to try and ask him out somewhere.” Aichi was starting to glow red again. “So I asked him in Card Capital, and Kamui overheard, and then Morikawa invited himself, and all of a sudden the entire card shop is going to a movie. We did go to the theater after that, but I spilled my drink on myself when Kamui bumped into me after he elbowed Kai out of the seat next to me, and by the time I was back from trying to dry myself off, Morikawa had gotten us all kicked out for yelling in the theater and I, uh… didn’t get a chance to ask if he wanted to do this again, sometime.”

“That’s a pretty awful date.” Aichi winced at her bluntness. “You didn’t even get to sit next to him.”

“Well, it was… okay. I had fun with everyone.” The smile on his face became a little forced. “I just wish that it could’ve worked out.”

“It’s not okay.” Asaka doesn’t know when she got so invested in Aichi’s love life, but it works as a welcome distraction from her own. “Okay, here’s the plan now then. You give him the tea, he loves it, he loves you, and then you mention that you got it from this cafe and invite him to go with you next time.” She pauses, thinking it through. “Just try not to spill the tea on Kai. He can’t try it if it’s all over his clothes.”

“That’s… this is a pretty solid plan.” Aichi seemed incredibly impressed. “It’s better than what I’ve been doing, at least.” 

“Oh? What have you been doing?” 

“My sister recommended ‘being myself’.”

She doesn’t apologize for the laughter that bursts out of her. Judging by Aichi’s slightly apologetic grin and gentle laugh, he doesn’t need one either. She leaves soon after, hiding the stain on her skirt with the small box of cake, feeling lighter than she had in weeks.

* * *

 

Asaka goes back to the same cafe a few days later, a hop to her step this time. Ren loved the shortcake that she had gotten for him, and afterwards, they’d been able to cardfight together for a few rounds, Asaka grabbing one victory after circling out her rearguards for the third time, Ren achieving another by forcing her to discard a few key rearguards through Blaster Dark’s skills. It felt like the times during the Asia Circuit; Ren and her spending time together and laughing and cheering. While the cafe was farther than where she usually goes, to put a smile on Ren’s face she’d exchange much more than a little bit of time and train fare. 

While her general mood had been improved, the situation at hand hasn’t gotten any better; Suiko is still there, always getting in between them, but after some time with Ren, she feels more relaxed than she had been in days. It was nice to be able to reaffirm their friendship after spending what felt like years (but was just a few weeks) apart. Asaka was able to manage a full conversation with the idol without feeling the need to break something apart in her hands, and she’s sure that’s a cause for celebration. Cheerfully, she strides in to find a somber looking Aichi with a cup of tea staring at his Vanguard deck, shuffling through his cards with a mournful look to his eyes. 

He hasn’t seen her yet, and she quickly considers running up to the counter and picking something up to go to avoid another encounter (washing out the coffee stain in her skirt was an ordeal she swore she’d never go through again) but a strange sense of responsibility and curiosity stopped her as she pulled out a chair and placed herself in front of Aichi again, the younger boy jumping as he registered who was in front of him.

“Aichi. How was your date?” She’s sure her plan worked perfectly. If anything had gone wrong, it’s sure to be on Aichi’s side (she hopes). 

“Asaka, hello!” Aichi is still as polite as always, for as genuinely down he seemed, and he smiled at her, pleasantly fake. “It went… well.” 

She immediately assumes the worst. “You spilled the tea on him, didn’t you.” 

“No, not this time!” Aichi laughs, a pitch slightly higher than what it was the last time she heard it. “It went okay. What you told me to do went okay. Kai really enjoyed the tea... I think.”

“So, what went wrong?” She really didn’t have time for Aichi trying to spare her the details, she had a shortcake to buy and deliver. 

Aichi deflates further. “The same as the movie theater. Miwa saw me giving the tea to Kai and mentioned that he really liked that cafe and that Kai was lucky to get such a nice gift. Kamui overhears that and says that he wants to go too, then. Morikawa and Izaki are in the same high school as Miwa and Kai, so Morikawa decided to come for the both of them. And Misaki and her friend just happened to be passing by for a quick drink before she went to work. So most of the shop regulars were all there.”

“That’s annoying.”

“I mean, it was a fun trip!” Aichi gently stops her from saying anything more caustic. “It’s fun, going out with friends like this. Well, it was good until Morikawa and Kamui tried to drink their drinks in one go. We had to deal with their burned tongues and highly caffeinated states later.” Aichi makes a troubled face. “I don’t think Kamui’s ever drank anything close to the black coffee we had. He was actually jittering so bad that he couldn’t play Vanguard afterwards.”

Asaka laughs easily. “I thought that kid was just always caffeinated. He has enough energy to be.”

“Kamui is just passionate.” Aichi smiles fondly. “He loves Vanguard a lot. I’ve learned a lot from him.” 

Well, having passion and loving something (someone) a lot is something she can relate to. “Hm. And what happened with you and Kai?” 

Aichi flushes. “I thought about asking him to cardfight in the cafe but… Misaki was leaving to Card Capital so we just all followed her out and… we ended up right back where we started.” Aichi lets out a small sigh as he leaned back in his chair, the mug in his hands. “I really do love them all… I just... “ 

“You’re don’t want to make out with Kai in front of them, right?” 

Thankfully, this time Aichi doesn’t drop his cup, but it does make a rather loud clacking noise as he half places, half slams it on the table. His face turns red yet again, though not to the degree it was the few days before. “That’s, that’s not how I would phrase it. But… yeah, I would appreciate a little more privacy.”

Asaka lets out a sigh between her teeth. Aichi was very lucky that she was in a better mood today, she thinks, before sitting up properly and looking at him straight in the eyes. “Don’t ask him out when people are around then. Walk home with him part of the way and ask him while there isn’t anyone around.” 

“Walk him… home?” 

Had the idea never occurred to him? Every moment she spends with Aichi, she wonders more and more if his clutch win in the Asia Circuit was a fever dream. “Yes. Walk him home. Like a gentleman.” Asaka pauses for a moment. “Or like a Gold Paladin in your case, I guess.”

“Our houses are almost in the opposite directions from Card Capital though…” Aichi muses. “Wouldn’t it seem suspicious that I offered?” 

“You said almost. Just walk with him as much as you can and ask him at the place you guys have to split up. You two just can’t be in hearing distance from your friends, or whatever, right?” 

Aichi seems to brighten up at the idea. “That could work!” 

“Of course it will.” Asaka snorts out a brief laugh. “I thought of it.”

The other matches her laughter with a bit of a bright laugh as well, pushing aside his cards for a moment. “Thank you for all of your help Asaka. I really do appreciate it.” 

“But of course.” She flips her hair back with a flourish and smirks. “I have to see my plans to their completion.” 

“Oh, but…” There’s a serious expression on Aichi’s face, a little more worried now than his previously happy look.

“What? Out with it.” 

“Did… did everything with Ren work out?” 

She’s vaguely touched that he asked, considering that she only mentioned it briefly to him. “It’s…” Asaka wonders how much she should let spill, how honest she really wants to be with one of the two biggest rivals for Ren. But in the end, her need to vent wins out against common sense; it’s not like she’s spilling Fukuhara Vanguard secrets. “Getting better. I haven’t been able to talk with him as much lately and it’s been really… hard. He’s always spending time with another girl, and I’m just so frustrated! She even has a personal mug in our break room! It took me a year and a half to even be able to go into that break room!”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.” Aichi actually looked properly sorry too. In a way he reminded her of Suiko, with how easily he exudes kindness, but thankfully, all of his emotions seem to be genuine. 

“Yeah, and she’s just so nice and pretty too, and plays good Vanguard. And she doesn’t even have to try to impress Ren, she’s always there with her perfect coffee and perfect voice and perfect makeup and… ugh!” 

“Ah, uhm… That does sound frustrating...”

“Right?! Don’t you think so too?” She’s nearing a volume that’s not appropriate for a cafe, but it’s hard to stop, she finds, when your voice is already on a crescendo upwards. “Like, I’ve always been there for Ren, and it’s fine if he doesn’t reciprocate, I guess, as long as he’s happy, but! Ignoring me for some new girl he barely even knows? That’s hurtful! At least value me as a friend! I’ve been by his side for so long and… it’s like it doesn’t even matter. I can’t even keep up with him in Vanguard.” Asaka buries her face in hands, as she’s been doing more and more often, nearing tears. “I just... I just want to be able to stay by him. That’s okay, right?”

Aichi nods vigorously (he’s probably scared of her ranting and raving, but that’s fine, it’s fine, she actually prefers it this way). “Standing by someone isn’t a bad thing.” 

“Yeah, I think so too! I’ve known him for so long, and I’ve learned everything he likes, and I keep looking out for him, but Ren still won’t acknowledge me.” She droops further. “I’ve been working so hard all this time, and he still won’t even look my way. Not the same way he does with her.” 

In the brief beat of silence that follows, Aichi interjects. “I, I don’t know how much it would help, but if you’d like, we can play some Vanguard now? Or maybe later?” He catches her eyes as she looks up slightly teary. “I don’t know… if I can really help with anything else, but at least, if we practice Vanguard together, it could help you feel like you’re keeping up with Ren? At least you’ll be fighting with someone who you don’t always play with.” 

The burden that was on her shoulders lightens. Maybe it was just the venting, but seeing someone reach out to her makes her let out a breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding, the words she vomited out carrying some of the weight that had plagued her since the beginning. “That… would be nice. I’d appreciate it.” 

Aichi smiles brightly at her response. “That’s good! I was hoping to repay you for the advice you’ve given me about Kai, too!”

The support that she’s receiving makes the weight even lighter. The situation was a mess, yes, and her plans had fallen to pieces, but speaking her mind like this helped her see where she had gone astray and what she needs to do to pick up the pieces, and Aichi’s offer to practice with her makes it easier to become even better. 

“Then we’ll cardfight another day. I can’t stay for much longer.” Asaka waves over a waitress for emphasis, taking note that Aichi still hasn’t wilted over. It seems as though the talk had lightened him up as well, an equivalent exchange.

The waiter comes in and she orders the same cake as she did last time, turning back to Aichi’s bright eyes and smile (it was almost blinding to be around him sometimes; she really wonders how Kai manages it). It’s hard to imagine what exactly this cheerful boy saw in the gloomy Kai, actually. She didn’t pretend that she tried to get to know him all that well even while he was in AL4, preferring to spend her time with Ren, but from what she observed, he was singularly focused on just one thing, all the time, with absolutely no exceptions. Where did Aichi fall in that? Didn’t he get lonely? “What do you even see in Kai anyways? If it were me, I would’ve gone for Misaki.” 

“Eh? Misaki?” Aichi tilts his head slightly to the side. “Misaki is more like an older sister to me, in a way. She’s really cool and responsible, and I really look up to her.” He pauses for a brief moment. “Why Misaki?” 

“Well. She’s cute and a good cardfighter, and she’s pretty loyal. She’s got that super nice memory too, and you could probably talk to her about things other than cardfighting, from the looks of it. And plus, she didn’t leave Q4 right before a major competition, right?” Asaka caught a slightly hurt expression cloud Aichi’s face; she’d pressed down on a wound that had yet to heal properly, it seems.

“You’re right, but…” Aichi hesitates slightly before continuing. “Kai… really helped me when I was younger. He’s always there for me when I really need it, in every way that he can be. And he always pushes me to become stronger, a better version of myself. He’s… Kai’s my vanguard.” 

“That’s cheesy.” Asaka shakes her head, pushing down a little bit of a fond smile (it’s not that she’s attached to Aichi or anything, she’s just… surprised at how honest he could be, unlike her). “But I guess if it works for you, then that’s fine.” 

Her cake arrives, and she stands to leave the cafe, pausing for a quick moment and grabbing a pen from her school bag and ripping a slice of notebook paper out, hastily scribbling out a few numbers and passing the paper over to Aichi. 

“That’s my number. Message me the results when you ask Kai out.” Asaka leans forward, making sure to loom menacingly over Aichi’s shocked figure. She had an image to maintain when it came to Vanguard, after all. “Like I said. I see my plans through. And, I’m planning on making sure you follow through your end of the bargain as well. Let’s play some Vanguard later, Sendou Aichi.” She uses his last name for emphasis, channeling the menacing aura she usually reserves for her cardfights. “I’m expecting your successful report in three days.” She turns, tossing her hair backwards for a final flourish. 

“Eh?!” She hears Aichi standing up, the chair groaning as he jolts straight up. “Wait, wait, three days?” 

Asaka turns, glancing back at the panicked boy and laughs at his dropped jaw and wide eyes. “I said three with consideration to how slow you two are. Most people can ask a question in a minute.” The jingle of the bells mark her striking exit, and she walks confidently down the street to the train station, knowing the cake in her hands and the new number in Aichi’s will lead them both to where they want to be.

Later, after another successful cake filled day, she checks her phone that night and finds one new message from a number she doesn’t recognize. 

‘I’ll do my best!’

In spite of herself, she smiles and reaches for her own deck and spare cards. She won’t allow herself to be outdone.

* * *

 

“So.”

“Uhm.”

“Care to explain how asking Kai out to a date resulted in all those scratches?” 

Aichi blushed, although the band-aids on his face covered the red somewhat. “We were walking home and we ran into a stray cat. Well, I walked into a stray cat. I stepped on its tail.” His head droops. “I still feel really bad. I was nervous and wasn’t paying attention.” 

Asaka fought the urge slap her forehead into her palm. “Did Kai at least fend off that beast for you?” 

“Don’t call it a beast. And Kai comforted the kitty, like he should have! It was my mistake for accidently stepping on it.” There’s a bit of a pout on Aichi’s face, as though he can’t understand why Asaka is so upset with the cat for ruining his own chances with his potential most likely future boyfriend. “Do you think it would forgive me if I bought it some milk or maybe some food?”

“I can’t believe that you’re okay with the fact that a  _ cat _ derailed your date.” Asaka shook her head. “Or the fact that you’re taking the cat’s side on all of this!” 

“The cat did absolutely nothing wrong.” Aichi stubbornly crosses his arms. “I just said I was the one who stepped on its tail by accident.”

“It’s done plenty wrong! That cat kept you from getting together with the closest thing you have to a soulmate! I can’t believe you’re still trying to protect it!” She can’t believe that Aichi’s honestly still feeling bad for stepping on its tail, when it was a complete accident. “Move on Aichi, that stray probably has too!”

“Asaka, the kitty did absolutely nothing wrong, and I…” Aichi tries to continue, but he turns a bit red. “I, uh, do you think that Kai and I are actually soulmates?”

Asaka lets a low groan and throws her hands in the air. “Is that really what you’re getting from this?”

“I, I just…” He’s steadily growing redder again. “Soulmates is a big jump.”

“Both of you are cat loving fools. You’re a match made in heaven.” Her sarcasm isn’t lost on Aichi, who looks a bit miffed at her response. “Look, the way you talk about Kai makes it sound like he makes you into the best you you ever could be. If Kai even feels half that much about you, that’s close enough to being soulmates, right?”

“Ah.” Aichi glows a bright red and scratches at one of the band-aids absentmindedly. “That’s, uhm...”

This conversation is ridiculous. He’s ridiculous. She’s ridiculous for wanting to help him. Why does she want to help him? “It doesn’t really matter if you’re soulmates or not if you two never sit down and talk about your feelings.” With a sigh, Asaka grabs his hand and yanks it away from his face. “Don’t do that, that cat wasn’t doing you any favors.”

“I, uhm, I guess that’s true.” She’s not sure to which part of her previous statements he’s agreeing with, so she takes it as a confirmation of both. He lets out a deep sigh afterwards. “I don’t think I have much time to ask him anything anymore, though. I have to work on the Miyaji Cardfight Club.” 

“Work on it? Are they making you teach them as the Asia Circuit champion or something?” Asaka’s a little concerned; Aichi wouldn’t ever say no to requests involving Vanguard and that’s not a good combination with rabid Vanguard fans. 

“Oh, it doesn’t exist officially yet.” There’s a bit of a apologetic smile on Aichi’s face. “I’m trying to make one.”

Asaka’s eyes widen a little bit before she gets herself back in control. “You went to a school without a cardfight club?”

“Miyaji is a school focused on making sure that all of its students are prepared for going into the workforce and becoming productive members of society. They don’t think that cardfighting is a part of that.” He shrugs, determination shining in his eyes. “I’m going to do my best to convince them otherwise.” 

Sendou Aichi is, for a lack of a better term, strange, she thinks. He’s one of the current top world players, and he chose to go to a school without a Vanguard team, even though he actually really enjoys the game. He’s confident and calm and collected while he’s playing Vanguard, but a shy, awkward mess outside of it, unable to inconvenience someone for even a little bit more sugar. He’s in love with Kai, deeply, and probably understands him quite well, but still can’t see how Kai looks at him, how gentle the other is towards him. Aichi’s a tangle of contradictions that Asaka can’t seem to iron out, in many ways similar but still opposite to her. 

“I don’t understand you.” Asaka pinches the bridge of her nose. 

“What do you mean?” Aichi tilts his head, looking a little lost as to why Asaka seemed so frustrated. “I don’t think that I’m that strange...?”

“You are that strange.” She glowers at him. “I just don’t understand you. You’re going to a school that doesn’t think that Vanguard is useful, you still can’t bring yourself to actually talk to Kai, and you’ve forgiven that cat for interrupting your one actual attempt to.” 

“I, I’ve tried more than once…” 

“Details. You’re too forgiving and optimistic. We were enemies, remember, and we’re still rivals now. I don’t understand why you’re so open about telling me things.” Asaka sighs heavily and runs a hand through her hair. “I don’t understand you.” 

Aichi’s frown gets deeper. “I’m telling you because we’re friends, right? I trust you.”

It’s a good thing she wasn’t drinking anything because she would have spit it out all over him. “What?”

“We’re not enemies, and even if we’re rivals, we can be friends too.” Aichi hesitates, clearly torn. “At first, I didn’t understand why you came up to me either, but I thought… it was because you thought of me as a friend after we talked the first time, and you saw that I was troubled. You gave me advice on how to talk to Kai, too.” He shakes his head, biting his lip, face growing continually redder as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Did… did you not think we’re friends?”

“Not really.” She’s not going to lie to him; that’d be unfair to both of them. Aichi stiffens in his seat, looking away from her. “But I guess…” She sees him perk up a little bit, and that’s really what drives her to finish her sentence. “I wouldn’t mind starting now.” 

He still looks a little hurt, his eyes a little wary, but Aichi looks at her again, instead of avoiding her gaze. “Asaka…”

“I’m not going to lie to you to make you feel better.” She leans forward a little bit. “I don’t know why I came up to you those times before. I guess I was curious the second time to know what happened with you and Kai. But I had fun. I wouldn’t mind doing this again.” Asaka pauses. “I mean, if you want to. I wouldn’t mind.” 

There’s a little smile on Aichi’s face now. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

* * *

 

Asaka’s not sure how things just slid into place after that, but they start meeting at the cafe regularly, to chat (mostly venting about Suiko and gushing about Ren on Asaka’s side, mostly recalling awful stories and half dates as well as the happenings of Miyaji Cardfight Club on Aichi’s side), to study, and to play Vanguard. They become regular enough that they remember the names of the people who work there and the staff just brings them their drinks and Ren’s small slice of cake whenever she walks in (she loves it, she feels important and memorable when Tsugumi, one of the waitresses, passes her a coffee just the way she likes it without her prompting. She just wishes Ren would do the same for her). 

She’s also not sure when she actually started to think of Aichi less as an acquaintance and more of as a friend, and the change is mostly unsettling, never having expanded her circle from Ren and Tetsu. Having someone that she enjoys the company of (and if she has to say it, care for) is an abrupt change of pace from her usual style of life. Asaka’s had plenty of rivals, like Kyou, Misaki, and even  _ Suiko _ , but she was never involved with them this deeply, where she knows what kinds of drinks they like (Aichi likes earthy teas like jasmine, paired with something lightly sweet like a baked bread or hot milk with some honey on off days) or what school subjects they excel or struggle with (Aichi is great at academic subjects but can’t for the life of him deal with anything like home economics or gym). She’s almost disgusted with how cheerful she felt hearing him greet her from the cafe. It seems as though attempting to drown her feelings and problems in coffee and sweets had ended in with them learning how to swim, which was ridiculously unfair and unfortunate. Why can’t the rest of her be that resilient? 

Asaka also knows a fair bit about Kai Toshiki that she never wanted to know (he names stray cats after the clans of Cray like a nerd and brings them food to eat with his limited budget, and honestly, in Asaka’s completely unbiased opinion, Kai has no right to do something as strangely heartwarming and cute as that), but to be fair, Aichi probably knows much more about Ren now than he ever wanted to know either. Their relationship, this give and take that she never expected to come about, had given her a place where she could be brittle and caustic without fear of judgement, a sort of home base in the rough ranking system of Fukuhara.

In layman’s terms, she, Narumi Asaka, the assassin of AL4, had accidently made a good, supportive friend. Which was, for her, incredibly strange. She’s not sure what to do. It’s the first time it’s happened. It wasn’t that she didn’t want a friend, she’s unsure where Aichi and spending time with him falls in her neat list of priorities, and that sort of scared her. 

The moment she realized she was fucked was when Aichi, well meaning and demure as ever, came in with a simple Pale Moon structure deck and asked her to to teach him how to play it. He wanted to learn how her clan of choice operates, for himself, and to also help Asaka as well, determined to aid in her practice as much as possible. For the first time, she could understand why Ren liked Aichi so much. It was impossible not to, for as clumsy with his own matters and as dense as he could be, he was genuine and kind. 

Asaka really hopes that Kai treats Aichi as well as he deserves to be. If not, she’ll just have to set him straight. With Vanguard of course, and a few (or maybe a lot of) choice words.  

For now, as uneasy as this new part of her life made her, it’s also something Asaka wasn’t willing to give up (which was almost scarier), so she waits in the cafe, sipping at her drink, early today since it was a day off of school. Aichi runs in a few minutes later, the bells signalling his arrival, out of breath, and sits at his usual spot in front of her.

“You should really work harder in gym class.” 

“I’m… doing my best.” He shakes his head after wheezing out his brief sentence. “But Asaka, you never told me that you were in Fukuhara? I didn’t even know that the school existed until now…” 

She looked up, vaguely shocked. “You didn’t know about Fukuhara? It’s pretty well established as a Vanguard high school, especially since it serves as an academy for the Foo Fighters.” 

“I wanted to go to Miyaji again, so I didn’t look at any other schools other than that and Hitsue.” Aichi’s face turned gently red. “I had the grades to go up to Hitsue High, so I wasn’t too worried for the entrance exams for other schools.” 

“You know now. What did you think about Fukuhara then? Regret not applying yet?” She flips her hair back, smirking proudly. “More importantly, did you enjoy my performance? I used your deck as a handicap.” 

“I was wondering where that structure deck went!” Aichi’s face lights up. “I couldn’t believe that you went face to face with Leon and almost won without using the deck you were most comfortable with! That’s really awesome, Asaka!” 

“Did you expect anything less?” She leaned back a little in her chair, and bowed with a flourish of her hands, enjoying the praise. “It wasn’t like I was switching clans. But, overall I do think it went well.” 

Aichi beams at her, obviously proud, and while she still wishes that it was Ren who praised her this much, noticed when she worked hard and tried new things out, this was okay, for now. “You were really fun to watch, too. Like...” He waves his arms in a what she thinks might be an attempt to copy her stage theatrics. “Wel-welcome! To the Pale Moon Circus!” 

She snorts (she’s a little pleased to see that he’s trying, but they’re going to need to work on his confidence), before returning a a flourish and a confident wave of her own. “We have for you today, a performance that’s unparalleled by any other!” 

He stumbles a bit, not expecting the graceful continuation to his imitation of her, trying to catch the passed dialogue. “Oh, uh, uhm! Introducing, uhm, the assassin of AL4, Narumi Asaka!” 

“As well as the one of the winners of the Asia Circuit, Sendou Aichi of team Q4! We hope you enjoy the show.” She again bows as much as she can in the chair, laughing as she sees Aichi stumbling along in a half bow with her. “You need to be more graceful. This is why trying to woo Kai hasn’t been working out for you.” 

“I, I just…” Aichi’s bright red now, unused to doing any level of theatrics, especially not in a public area like this. He groans, resting his head in his hands. “You don’t need to say it like that…” 

“I still think you should just ask him out.” Asaka stays as nonchalant as she can, stifling down another laugh when she hears a slightly pitiful noise from Aichi. “You’re about as subtle as a grade schooler. If he’s not responding to you, then you need to talk to him.” 

“Emi would be offended if she heard you.” Aichi’s offhandedly remarks, his face still buried in his palms. “She’s much better at these kinds of things than I am.”

“Is that why she went on that restaurant date with you and Kai?” Aichi’s elbows sink as he grows redder and slowly lowers his face to the table. “How romantic, just you and your boyfriend... and your younger sister making sure you don’t engage in anything  _ dirty _ .” She draws out the last word, finally bursting into laughter when Aichi removes his hands and lets his head smack the table with a satisfying ‘clonk’.

“Emi was just worried when I didn’t show up to Card Capital. She didn’t realize that I was with Kai, and by the time she found me, it was just easier to eat all together at the restaurant.” Aichi’s face once again became visible as he pulled himself up, still bright red. “It was fun, but… not really what I was thinking would happen.” 

“That’s why I’m saying you should just skip whatever romantic lead in you’re thinking about and just tell him you like him.” She sighs and takes another sip of her coffee. “You have some of the worst luck I’ve ever seen. If I didn’t know any better, I’d bet that your life synopsis was actually just a badly written shoujo manga.” 

“Can… the manga be well written at least?” 

“You don’t want your manga to be well written. That means it won’t end for another five years.” She reaches out and pats Aichi’s head a little condescendingly. “If it’s badly written, you get the guy, and then you’re done because no one wants to publish you.” 

“I guess you’re right.” He pushes himself up with a sigh. “I’ll try again later, when I’m not as busy anymore. I haven’t been going to Card Capital as much as I have been because of club.” 

“Of course I am.” She primly responds, cheerful. “I’m sure it’ll work out.” 

Aichi laughs lightly, sitting up straight again in his seat. “Thanks for the encouragement, Asaka.” He pauses for a moment, looking away and biting his bottom lip. “Ah, I was meaning to ask… the girl you were talking about from all those times before… was it Suiko?” 

Her good mood dissipates as she remembered getting upstaged by Suiko in both their Vanguard demonstrations and grabbing Ren a drink, a scowl replacing her smile from before. “Yes, it’s Suiko. Did you see the way she took my idea of getting Ren a drink and just… gave him the coffee that was nearby? I was almost out of the room! Can’t she just take a hint?”

“I didn’t see, but… I can sort of see it happening?” Aichi shrugs, a little helplessly, before adding thoughtlessly, “But she does make good coffee.” 

“You too?!” She was going to pull her hair out and use to strangle both Aichi and Suiko, and then herself. Or maybe just Suiko and then herself, she supposes with his own track record, Aichi could probably die of embarrassment without any outside assistance if he was left unsupervised. “I mean, sure, her coffee is great, but it’s not like she was the one who mentioned getting a drink for Ren, you know? I was there first. I was always there first.” 

Aichi reaches out and pats her arm reassuringly. “I know. I’m sure Ren appreciated you running out for him, even if he was drinking Suiko’s coffee.” 

“He was complimenting her so much!” She’s on the track to tears now again, and she’s not sure if she should be worried that this was becoming a normal part of her life. “I work so hard to impress him and he doesn’t even turn my way to see! I’m even managing all of the club duties for him so he can rest better, but…” Asaka lets her head fall onto the table. “Does he even care?” 

“Uhm… Asaka, I think you should let Ren do the club duties if he’s captain…” 

She lifts her head up slightly, a bit peeved. “I get that from Tetsu all the time. I’m doing these things for Ren because it makes him happy, and I like making him happy. Making him happy makes me happy. It’s something I want to do.” 

Aichi hesitates a moment, a concerned look on his face. “I’m glad that it makes you happy, but maybe you could… try sharing the duties? Isn’t it a lot of work to manage all of that on top of your school work?” 

Asaka pulls herself from the table and sends Aichi a half hearted glare. “I can handle it. I have been for the past two months, if you haven’t noticed.” She sighs into her palm before continuing. “I don’t mind busy work, it’s not hard. I just wish that Ren would thank me once in a while, like he does with Suiko. She recently passed me in the rankings and I don’t know what I should do.” 

She can feel Aichi’s sympathy before she sees it, and it’s comforting; she wants to pull the feelings over her like a blanket and just sleep off her frustration until her next life. Maybe there, she would finally be acknowledged. 

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Asaka, but I think you might be being a little too hard on yourself. It’s frustrating, but I’m sure that Ren still really appreciates you.” Aichi’s words are gentle. “Suiko’s a strong cardfighter, but so are you! You’re always working so hard and I’m sure with some more practice you can get past her in the rankings again!” 

“Is that enough though?” 

Asaka can tell that Aichi’s concern is only growing stronger as he stares worriedly at her. “I’m sorry to say it like this, but I don’t think… this is healthy.” He shrinks a little in his seat, seemingly worried about the backlash his words will cause. “You’re worth a lot more than just what Ren thinks of you. Believe me when I say that being obsessed with getting stronger for someone else doesn’t end well.”

She knows. She knew it from the start, the way she followed Ren around didn’t seem like what any normal person would do. But she’s not normal, she’s herself, and this is what she wants to do. “It’s not just for Ren.” She mumbles the words out, unsure of how vulnerable she really wants to be at the moment. 

“What do you mean?” 

“It’s for myself too.” She hesitates before deciding to throw herself off the proverbial cliff of faith. She’ll trust Aichi to catch her and if he doesn’t? Asaka is strong, too. It’ll only take a few days (weeks) of moping before she’ll drag herself back up. “Ren is strong, stronger than I am right now. I like spoiling him because… it makes me feel stronger.” Asaka can feel her tablemate’s confusion, so she tries to reword her sentiments. “I love Ren. I really do. There’s really no one else I’d like to stand by. But Ren is strong, much stronger than I was when we first met, and being able to fight my way up to meet him and really know him was a time that was really hard for me, but I ended up cherishing. The experience of going through the ranks of Foo Fighters is irreplaceable. I like spending time with him and spending time on him because it reminds me of all the work I did to get to this point.” She smiles wryly. “Plus, being able to be someone dependable for someone as strong as Ren is a sign of strength too. This is the way I show my love and how strong I am. I’ll stay as the cornerstone to Ren’s team as long as I can.” 

She feels oddly naked after saying all of that, but it’s easier to breathe again after she did, the truth lying on the table, for what Aichi to do with what he will. “I guess I don’t need acknowledgement. I just want to stay by his side and get stronger together. But it would be nice to receive it.”

Aichi stays quiet, a thoughtful look on his face as he digests what he’s heard, before sighing himself and tiredly smiling at her. “We’re kind of similar, huh?” It’s a statement, she thinks, and not a question. “I can understand how you feel. Trying to keep up with someone who’s far ahead of you is really tiring.” 

There’s a wave of relief, a moment of clarity, where she realizes he really does know, with Kai. The loneliness and uncertainty of taking the road behind someone else who’s so far ahead, trudging on by yourself, unsure of when you’ll find them again, if you’ll ever see them again, but also the joy in reaching them and walking together, forging a path unique to both of you. The fear of them leaving you behind again and the determination it takes to keep up, step by step, placing together the pieces of your hard work like a map to find the next place to go. 

“It is.” She mirrors his expression of content resignation. “But it’s worth it, right?”

He nods, a short, soft laugh on his lips. “Definitely.” 

Asaka hesitates once more before allowing herself one more confession. “I don’t actually hate Suiko.” The words ‘I was just jealous that she was stronger than I am’ hang unspoken in the air, resounding clearly, heard only by the two of them.

“I know. You’re a better person than you give yourself credit for, Asaka.” Aichi’s words are kinder than what she deserves in her state of misery. “I’m sure you and Suiko will be able to come to an understanding.” He reaches out again, patting her arm. “And I’m sure you’ll become stronger.”

A waitress, her name was Eve, Asaka remembers, comes over and apologizes for the long wait as she passes a cup of tea to Aichi and the moment is dispersed. It was nice getting things off of her chest, but she’s not ready to be vulnerable all the time like Aichi is. This was good enough for today. 

Asaka lets out another breath she didn’t realize she was holding before placing her hands around the mug of coffee. “Oh, one other thing…”

Aichi sips his drink before answering. “What is it?”

“Miyaji Academy had a Narukami user in your club, right? I think his name was Ishida Naoki?”

“Huh?” Aichi tilts his head slightly. “Yeah, Naoki is our Narukami user. Why?”

“Tell him that he’s my favorite Miyaji Cardfight Club member. Including you and Misaki.” 

“Wait, why?” 

“I’ve never seen Suiko that angry about anything this entire semester. Tell him he’s welcome to come back and tell her she doesn’t look like she belongs in a sailor fuku anyday.” 

Aichi’s shocked gaze meets Asaka’s slightly mischievous one, and their shared laughter gently fills both the cafe and her up, an air of peace surrounding Asaka that she hadn’t felt since the beginning of the school year. It’ll be okay again eventually, she thinks, when she leaves later, the cake box an easy weight to hold in her hands.

* * *

 

They don’t find time to meet up again until after the Vanguard High School Regionals. Between Aichi’s strange Vanguard play (she filmed it in its entirety and is currently planning on playing it during his wedding, much to his chagrin) and her efforts to take her number two spot back from Suiko, time slipping past their fingers. Tsugumi and Eve welcome them in, passing them their drinks with big smiles and a ‘we missed you’ as they settled down. She teases Aichi gently about Miyaji’s loss and tells him that she expects to see him in the finals again next year. Aichi congratulates her on her stellar techniques and promises they will, and that time in the future, Miyaji will definitely take it to nationals. All in all, a wonderful day.

It’s really too bad that whatever deity is watching over her really hates her guts. 

She feels Suiko’s aura before she even walks into the cafe, a weird mix of the chills running down her spine and her irritation spiking when she hears the bells jingle and a lilting ‘oh’ from the entrance. Asaka hopes deeply that she’s wrong, even more desperately than the times when she needs miracle heal triggers to stay afloat in Vanguard. 

“Asaka, is this where you disappear off to time to time? Oh, and Aichi is here too!” 

Her eyes closed. She lived a good, short life; she fell in love, made one friend, made many more rivals, and played a lot more Vanguard than she ever thought she would. Maybe Aichi will at least have the generosity to still play the recording of his play she has at her funeral, though she really doubts he’ll play it at his wedding, a poor second best to what she had originally wanted.

Letting out a sigh, Asaka turns, opens her eyes, and sees the one person she was running away from the entire time. “Suiko. Why are you here?” 

“UltraRare was filming a commercial just down the street.” Her voice was smooth and unfrazzled by Asaka’s animosity (like usual, like always). She motioned to the shorter redhead and Kourin who were already animatedly talking to Aichi. “We wanted to take a quick break and heard this place had good drinks.” Suiko pulled out the chair next to Asaka and sat down elegantly, tucking a few stray hairs that had gotten into her eyes behind her ears. 

“I see.” She’s not sure what to say. She’s not sure if she even wants to say anything, really. She still hasn’t forgiven Suiko for stealing her high five. Instead, Asaka grips the handle of the mug of coffee and takes a slow sip, elongating the silence. She just wants to scream and leave, but making a scene in a quaint cafe isn’t high on her list of priorities, so Asaka settles for being as cold as possible. If nothing else, she hopes that Suiko feels as awkward as she does. 

Unfortunately, Suiko doesn’t seem affected by her chilly demeanor at all, chuckling softly as she watches Asaka’s attempts at warding her away. As if she’s completely unaffected, Suiko actually leans in closer, close enough that Asaka can see the gleam of her impeccably applied lip gloss and catch a sniff of a floral perfume. “Is it good?”

It takes all of her willpower to not react. “It’s great.” Suiko’s coffee is actually probably better, but Asaka would rather be forced to swap clans for the rest of her life than admit it. She grits her teeth and forces herself to continue. “I’d recommend it.” 

“Then that’s what I’ll have!” Suiko claps her hands in delight and asks Eve for whatever Asaka had gotten, still either ignorant of or ignoring the irritation seeping out of every part of Asaka’s body. “I’ve always wanted to go to a little cafe like this with a cute friend. We should come here together next time.”

She’s not sure what registers first: immediate dread at the thought of coming here with Suiko instead of Aichi like she was accustomed to, the shock of being called a friend by her greatest current rival in love and Vanguard, or the quiet pleasure of being called cute by a nationally adored idol. 

Asaka lets out a sigh and shoots Suiko a glare. “If you have time to go to a nice cafe like this, you should be training. We’re going to be busy, since we have the Vanguard High School Competition to worry about.” She crosses her arms before continuing. “You especially need to keep practicing, considering you were the only one who lost a fight for our team during the regionals. You’re going to bring shame to Ren’s name!”

Suiko laughed cheerfully, catching Asaka off guard. It was hard to get a read on the idol, an air of mystery surrounding her at any given time. In a way, it reminded her of Ren, only less endearing and more irritating (it could be endearing, she thinks, if only Suiko was a little easier to get close to). “I’ll do my best, Asaka. I’ll be counting on you to help me out as well.” She accepts the coffee that Eve had brought her with a smile and a nod. “But I think that it would be nice to come here with all the members of AL4, no?” 

It would be a lie to say that she hadn’t considered bringing Ren to the cafe, considering he loved their shortcake so much. But, she can’t shake off the strange sentimentality that this particular cafe was for meeting Aichi, and just that. It wasn’t even the idea of Suiko coming that repulsed her so badly; the cafe was special, something for herself to indulge in, that didn’t haven’t anything to do with school or Vanguard or Ren. It didn’t even matter if Aichi didn’t see it the same way as her, really. Asaka’s long accepted the idea of being replaceable from her time in Foo Fighters, even while she fought desperately to make her own place. The experiences she had here were hers, the memories she made here are irreplaceable to her, something that she didn’t want to share. Maybe that made her selfish, to think about it that way. But she never considered herself to be a selfless person, so she indulged in those feelings anyways. 

“Maybe not then?” Suiko’s voice made her jump, forcing her out of her thoughts. There seems to be a glint of, of something in the other’s eyes that Asaka can’t understand, but it’s gone as soon as she blinks, Suiko’s general smiling expression plastered on her face again. Asaka wants to tear off the mask, see the real face underneath, but she’s not sure how many layers Suiko wears, which layer of indiscretion is the closest to the real one, and in the moment of hesitance, Suiko’s smile becomes like iron. 

She almost says that they can’t, not now, not ever, and especially not with Ren, but the words die on her mouth. Nothing would change if she rejected Suiko. She’d remain where she was, stagnant and ever unchanging, never weak, but never truly strong as well. Her eyes glance at Aichi, and he sends her an encouraging smile and an unsubtle thumbs up before continuing to chat with the other two idols in Suiko’s group. 

Becoming a stronger and better version of yourself, Asaka thinks, is a pain in the ass.

Asaka sits up and finally meets Suiko’s gaze properly. “Maybe we can grab something closer to Fukuhara.” She’s not ready to share this cafe, not yet, but she’s going to try to step closer to something resembling strength. “But only if you get better! You slid down the rankings again since you lost to that new Narukami user. You’ll have to beat me again before I consider accepting your offer.” 

Suiko seems floored, the carefully curated expression on her face dropping along with her jaw. She collects herself quickly, placing another smile on her face, although this time, to Asaka, it seems a little more genuine. “I’m not sure if we’ll ever be able to go to a nice cafe then. You’re very strong, Asaka.” 

“I’ll help you.” Asaka feels her face heating up from the compliment, but she keeps her eyes on Suiko’s. “I can’t have you shaming Ren with your subpar performance.” 

“Then, I’ll be in your care.” Suiko reaches out and touches the tips of Asaka’s fingers, smiling growing slightly larger when Asaka doesn’t pull away. “I’ll work as hard as I can.” 

She knows that she will. “I don’t doubt it.” 

Suiko brings her hand back to herself (Asaka did  _ not  _ miss the contact, in anyway whatsoever) and purses her lips, suddenly in thought. “I’d feel bad if I was the only one receiving.” She claps her hands as the look in her eyes cleared. “What if I showed you how I make coffee? Ren seems to really enjoy it!” 

Asaka laughs out loud; Suiko seemed to know just what to say to convince her. “It’s a deal. Just don’t regret it if mine is better.” 

The idol lets out a giggle as well, her eyes literally sparkling (Asaka wonders if it’s just the trick of the light or if it’s just an idol thing, to be a star, to  _ shine _ , no matter what little action you take). “As long as you make some for me as well.” 

Kourin and the little redhead (she never really cared for the small one, and the only reason she knows Kourin aside from their brief battle is because Aichi speaks of her fondly) finally get their drinks a few moments later, Suiko cheerfully trying out the coffee that Asaka recommended. 

“It’s very good. I see why you come here so often.” The idol grabs her phone out of her pocket, scooting close enough to Asaka that their shoulders touched. “Let’s take a picture together, to commemorate coming here!” Suiko raised her mug in one hand and held her phone in the other, waiting patiently for Asaka to move and pose with her. 

Asaka lets out a sigh, before raising her mug up and moving her face next to Suiko’s. The camera application goes off with a beep, and she finds that, even while next to a beautiful idol, she’s still actually not that bad looking. 

The three members of UltraRare leave soon afterwards, their presence needed on the set. Suiko whispers a ‘I’ll see you soon’ into Asaka’s ear, and while she’s still reeling, the idol winks at her and leaves while she’s still red. How rude. 

Aichi stares at her, a bit amused. “Asaka, I thought you only had eyes for Ren?”

“Shut up. Least I haven’t pined for Kai Toshiki for the past two years.” 

His grin tells her that she’s in for some (probably well deserved) payback for all the times she teased him about his relationship with Kai, and Asaka, while groaning all the while, hides a small smile behind her hand. But Aichi is kinder than she is, and while he makes a few gentle comments, he leaves the topic mostly alone, his eyes shining with a proud light. 

After she gets home, Asaka notices that Suiko had sent her the picture, slightly altered for them to have cute cat ears, along with a bunch of hearts added to the edges. She rolls her eyes at the gesture, but saves the picture, and carefully changes her home screen wallpaper (Ren, of course, is still her lock screen photo).

* * *

 

That next week, Asaka walks in the cafe with bandages and gauze covering her left hand and wishes she could apply them to dignity as well. Aichi brightens up at the sight of her but his warm gaze quickly turns serious as he sees the white wrapping around her fingers and hand. 

“What happened?” 

She’d rather die than say what had transpired two days ago. “I caught your lovesickness and had an allergic reaction to the cure.” Asaka makes a waving motion with her hand. “It’s nothing too serious. I got over it. My hand isn’t even injured, I promise.” 

Aichi looks somewhat offended, frowning. Her heart beats a little faster when he bites his lip and taps the table irregularly, clearly deep in thought; he’s sharp, so if she didn’t change the subject now– 

“Was this because Suiko offered to teach you how to make coffee the way she does?”

He was too close to the truth. 

“No.” She’s supplies a different embarrassing story. “Ren said that he was cold in his office so I went to turn the heater on. I didn’t realize it was already on, so I got a little burned. He wrapped it for me because he’s perfect like that.” 

“Tell me the truth.” Aichi’s frown gets deeper. “You’re too smart to get burned from a mistake like that, Asaka. I tell you all my failed dates with Kai anyways, how is this any different?”

In a way, Asaka’s flattered that Aichi thinks that she’s lying, since that particular event had actually occurred once when she was too happy to think straight, Ren speaking to her for the first time since she had come to join the Foo Fighters. But she’s mostly embarrassed that he saw through her; how low has she really sunk? 

“It’s different because you’re the one telling them.” She gingerly places her bandaged hand on the table, staring glumly at it. It’s been much harder to practice Vanguard with the haphazard wrap job that Ren did (she refused to let Suiko undo it on the grounds that  _ Ren  _ did it for her). “You better not laugh if I tell you.”

“Why would I laugh?” Aichi places a hand over his heart and leans forward, eyes shining with sincerity. “I wouldn’t laugh at a friend getting hurt.” 

Asaka leans back in her chair and sighs deeply. “I don’t think you’ll laugh at me getting hurt. I think you’ll laugh at why.” 

“Asaka.” There’s a resolute look on Aichi’s face and she resigns herself to just telling the truth and getting it over with. He could be strangely stubborn when he wanted to be, considering that most days Aichi couldn’t even ask for extra honey in his milk without feeling like a bother. 

“Suiko and I were practicing Vanguard together like we have been recently.” Another sigh escapes from her mouth before she could stop it. “I won and to celebrate, Suiko said that she wanted to make some coffee for the two of us. But she also promised to teach me, right?” She sees Aichi nod on the other side of the table. “So I follow her into the breakroom, and we’re making coffee together and she… Suiko…” She can’t say it. She’ll die. She’s going to die of embarrassment and it’s all Aichi’s fault.

“What did she do?” Aichi looks alarmed. “Did she pour boiling water on you?! I didn’t think Suiko would do something like that but… oh my god, I need to tell Kourin, they live together!” He’s already reaching for his phone, rapidly tapping through apps and opening Line. 

“What?!” Asaka turns bright red. “No, don’t tell anyone about this, put that phone  _ away  _ Aichi.” 

“What did she  _ do _ , then?” Aichi’s hand is still hovering over the send button, ready to send Kourin words of caution that one of her idol sisters (are they sisters? Asaka still doesn’t know) may be slightly more dangerous than they all thought.

Asaka covers her face with her hands. “She put her hand on top of my hand, Aichi. I was surprised and wasn’t paying attention to where I was pouring and Suiko was busy looking at me and then… I missed the mugs.” 

There’s a pregnant pause as Aichi registers the information. 

“I got her hand too. Thankfully, I was flustered enough that I grabbed the pot before it was even halfway done boiling so our skin was mostly just tender.” She still has her face covered, redness spreading throughout it.

“That sounds like something I would do.” 

He’s right, and that’s why she’s so mortified. Asaka thought she outgrew this part of her when she was in middle school, when she first held a boy’s hand and ended up tripping over her own two feet. “Yeah. So you shouldn’t hold hands with Kai in the kitchen either.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” And Aichi really did look like he was going to, the way he scrunched up his eyebrows and nodded thoughtfully. Asaka hates that she’s the example for this. “Why is it wrapped like that then?”

“Ren wrapped it like this. It probably didn’t even need to be wrapped the first day. It was like slightly too hot bath water when I poured it, our skin was just a little red.” She sighs. “He keeps wrapping it up everyday saying that you can’t be too careful. I think he’s having a blast.”

“He’s probably just happy that you two are getting along. You’ve been playing with her everyday, right? Kourin’s been telling me that Suiko is more cheerful and easier to get along with too nowadays.” Aichi smiles lopsidedly. “It is really good that you guys weren’t actually hurt.”

She wants to tell him that she did get hurt, her pride is dead on that kitchen floor, but abstains, just sighing into her hands and finally removing them from her face. “I guess. At least, we’ve been cardfighting and talking everyday now and I don’t want to strangle her or myself as much when she walks in the room.” 

“That’s good! It’s a step in the right direction.” There’s a smile on Aichi’s face as he continues. “I’m really glad for you Asaka.”

The corners of her mouth turn up slightly as well. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

* * *

 

And of course, because this was Suiko, and Suiko, much like Asaka, is selfish, gets reversed and then forgets everything that’s happened this semester after a couple of weeks and leaves Fukuhara, leaving an empty space in both AL4 and by Asaka’s side. Asaka knows she’s being dramatic, they were barely friends, let alone what she considers to be close, but she’s stumbling a little without someone right by her side pushing her to be better, unsure of where to head next. Suiko was her goalposts; someone she wanted desperately to surpass and stay ahead of. Asaka’s sure she can find her footing again, she’s been without Suiko for most of her life, but as she checks the time on her phone again, staring at their one shared photo, she wonders if that’s what she really wants. 

At the very least, Asaka’s still angry and frustrated and all kinds of miserable even without Suiko around. 

It’s not Suiko’s fault that she’s gone, Asaka knows, it’s actually just Kai’s fault, and even then, it’s mostly just another weird alien’s fault (there really should be a rule about invaders from outer space ruining her day more than once in a lifetime). But the truth, as it normally is, is unsatisfying, and even though she understands the situation, she doesn’t want to acknowledge it. It’s easier to pick someone tangible that she could hate until she can move on, as unfair as it might be. 

She’s in the cafe again, waiting for Aichi, by himself this time; their last visit, he’d brought Kai with him. Asaka left without a word and sent Aichi a text that she wouldn’t accept his apology unless Kai came up to her by himself and was said that he was sorry without his better half pushing him. Asaka knows it’s cruel, she understands from the messages that she and Aichi have exchanged that Kai is trying his best, truly and completely, but apologies won’t atone for the fact that Fukuhara had to resign the Vanguard High School Nationals after losing their registered member, ease the sting of loss that permeates the clubroom, or change the fact that he very nearly killed Aichi. If apologies are all that Kai have to make up for what’s gone, then it’s only fair, she thinks, that he does it properly. 

Aichi, on the other hand, has completely forgiven Kai, for whatever reason, although she thinks that he probably has the most reason out of all of them to stay upset, having nearly died on the roof and lost a valuable friend and team member in Kourin. At first she thinks it’s because love has rendered him blind, what little objective thought he had on the topic of Kai dead where it stood. But even from the short time all three of them spent together at the cafe, Asaka could tell that Aichi already knows that Kai’s done something he can’t take back, accepted it, and is leading Kai gently to self improvement. It’s not that he doesn’t care what Kai did, it’s that he’s accepted the fact it’s happened and wants to be there for and support him as Kai tries to become a better person. 

Aichi’s honestly too good for either of them. He even understood when Asaka couldn’t forgive Kai, only asking her to try again when she’s able to with a small, sad smile.

Kai did try to apologize to her one more time after the poor exchange at the cafe, this time to both her and Ren at Fukuhara. Ren perks up immediately, ushering him in and cardfighting with him, barely after Kai gets the words ‘I’m sorry’ out of his mouth. He asks Asaka to make them something to drink, and while she wants to argue, the look in Ren’s eyes convince her otherwise. Asaka knows that Ren will forgive Kai after their fight, that their shared history and current friendship will allow this to be an event that strengthens their bonds, but she’s not foolish enough to think that Ren isn’t upset over the loss of Suiko. She’s not the only one who’s lost a teammate, after all, and she understands that sometimes it’s easier for Ren to explain his emotions through a game of Vanguard.

She couldn’t help but stare at the coffeemaker in the other room, three mugs still lined up neatly next to the pot (Tetsu’s mug was in his office downstairs, underneath a sea of paperwork that Ren hadn’t done yet). No one had the heart to put the third one on the left away, it’s previous owner no longer available to use it. It would be easiest to use that one for Kai’s drink, but instead she gently places the blue mug decorated with stars to the side and reaches for a plain white one in cupboard before heating some water up. 

For now, Asaka’s accepted his apology, but she can’t find in her to forgive him just yet. She doesn’t even wish that she could forgive him either; Kai had many people who loved him dearly, who’d forgive and support him, like Ren and Aichi. So, in all her pettiness and selfishness, against Aichi’s pleas, and the honest, genuine apologies from Kai, Asaka firmly refuses to do the same, all the pain he’s caused her and the people she deems the closest to her a constant reminder of his failings. Maybe later, one day, Asaka will forgive him, when she’s done mourning for someone who wasn’t even dead (but won’t ever come back). 

Aichi runs into the cafe, the chime of the bells breaking the train of her thoughts. She raises her hand as a greeting and he nods in response as he sits down, breathing hard once again. Asaka briefly feels the urge to tease him about his meager athletics, but the words die on her tongue as she notes that he seems paler than he was during the incident on the Tatsunagi building, his breathing a little haggard as he remained doubled over for a concerning amount of time. 

Her concern gives away to genuine worry as finally looks up and she sees the deep bags underneath his eyes. “Are you okay?” 

“I’m, I’m just…” He takes in another deep breath. “... tired. From school. I haven’t been sleeping well.” 

He’s lying. No amount of homework and projects could have caused this; Aichi looks like he’s just barely holding his head up. Even Tsugumi and Eve, who they’ve only exchanged words with a few times other than to order seem concerned, passing over their preferred drinks with raised eyebrows and frowns. 

“Tell me the truth. What’s wrong?” Her last question is more like a statement of fact, her eyes narrowing as Aichi shakes his head in response, stammering out that he wasn’t lying, unwilling to share. 

She nearly loses her composure. Maybe in a different life, she could have let it go. On a different day, she might have been more considerate to his feelings. But today, when she had to wash the dust out of Suiko’s mug and really come to terms with the fact that she wasn’t coming back? Asaka can’t lose two people in her life that quickly. It’s too much. 

“Aichi. Do you know what the last thing I said to Suiko was before she forgot everything?” 

He startles, clearly unexpecting the question. “Uhm, no, I don’t think I was there.” 

“I told her that when things got better, we’d go to a cafe together.” Asaka tucks away a stray hair, hands tightening around the mug. Vulnerability is still hard for her. “I didn’t know that she would forget everything if things got resolved. She didn’t tell me.” Another pause. “Suiko told me that she would love to go get coffee one day, if everything could be okay again. She already knew that she wasn’t coming back with Ren and I.” 

“Asaka…” Aichi was biting his lip, clearly torn. That was good. She wanted him to feel that way. 

“I didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye properly.” She stares at him straight in the eyes, hoping that what she says will pierce through somehow. “There’s something wrong. Tell me what it is so I can figure something out! Don’t just half ass a goodbye like her.” 

Aichi can’t meet her gaze anymore. “That’s not fair, Asaka.” His voice is wavering. “I… you shouldn’t try to guilt people. That’s not... this isn’t fair.” 

“I’m not saying it to be fair. It doesn’t matter to me if it is or isn’t.” 

The other immediately looks up, taken aback. The silence that expands between the two of them isn’t the response she wants to hear, so she stands up, walks to the counter, and pays for both of their drinks, sitting back down once she’s done. “You pay next time.” 

“What?” 

“I paid for both of us this time, so you pay next week.” Asaka’s voice was hard. “We’re meeting here again next week. Bring Kai and Misaki and that other short haired kid, I’ll ask Ren and Tetsu to come. We can all play Vanguard together.” 

Tears are building up in the corners of Aichi’s eyes, but Asaka won’t let that sway her, not now. She stares him down, waiting. He has other friends that can baby him; she knows that the rest of Q4 would probably rather spare his feelings for now and then confront him later all together in what she would consider to be a disgusting sharing time for feelings. She’ll play the bad cop to their good cops, then, and make sure that Aichi gets what he needs.

“Okay.” He whispers out a few moments later, barely audible. “I’ll pay next time. I promise.” 

It’s still not the answer Asaka wants, but even she can see that pushing might hurt Aichi further, so she allows it to rest for now. She’ll give him hell over the phone later. “Make sure you get some actual sleep. You won’t be able to beat the original members of AL4 even if you have the rest of Q4 on your side if you’re not well.” 

He slouches in his seat, either from just the general exhaustion or relief that she’s let him off the hook, she’s not sure. “I’ll… I’ll try.” His eyes close as he rests his head in his palm; Asaka’s almost convinced he’s asleep when she’s startled by the sound of his voice. “I wasn’t lying about the sleep. I haven’t slept well for a few days, and it’s… just been not good.” 

“You don’t look like you’ve slept well since the entire Link Joker incident.” Asaka takes his silence as a confirmation of her statement, sighing, some relief filling her. He might not tell her why he can’t sleep, but lack of sleep is something she can deal with. Ren himself had sleepless nights while he was with Psyqualia, so she knows what kinds of sleep aids work the best, when he should take them, in what dosage. Asaka can’t fight off his nightmares, but this much she can do, shoving him in what she hopes is the right direction.

Asaka writes down the information on a spare piece of paper she pulls from her school bag while Aichi watches on warily, passing him the sheet and observing him as his eyes grow wide. “Don’t take too much at once, that’s dangerous.” Asaka points to a particular medicine on the list. “I’d recommend this one the most. Ren still uses it when he can’t fall asleep.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate it.” The gratitude in his voice is still as genuine as ever, and he carefully tucks the page into his bag. “I’ve just… had a lot on my mind lately.” 

“I know. You came to talk to Ren about it, right?” 

Aichi jolts, looking at her with shocked eyes. “He- He told you?!”

“He didn’t tell me what you talked about, he just said that you had stopped by and you two had a nice chat.” She wishes that she could know, Ren had been pouting pretty badly when she came into the room, but he had shrugged and said that he had promised to keep it a secret. 

He slides back down in his chair, obviously relieved to the point it hurts her feelings. Was she really that untrustworthy? Aichi catches her slightly insulted look, sitting back up and smiling at her. “It’s, it’s really not that important… I just don’t want to talk about it right now.” 

Asaka still wants to know, and she’s sure that Aichi can feel the irritation and worry exuding from her, as she watches him stifling a sigh. “I’m worried… about the future, I guess.”

She gives him another look. “You’re going to have to be more specific.” 

Aichi prolongs the inevitable all he can by taking a long drink out of his tea and mulling over his answer. “I’ve just… been talking to a lot of people about it.”  He blows his bangs out of his eyes in a childish manner. “There’s something I need to do, but I’ve been getting… mixed reactions.” 

“If Ren is against it, so am I.” Asaka knows that Ren is a bit of an eccentric, but he wouldn’t approve of anything that could hurt the people he was close to, which means that Aichi was probably planning on something not at all very smart. 

He laughs before replying. “I thought you would be. That’s why I didn’t want to bring it up.” Aichi stares at the contents of his drink for a moment. “I kind of just wanted to talk to you like normal today.” 

“Well, since we’re meeting again next week,” She puts as much emphasis on the words next and week as she can, noting a small frown appearing on Aichi’s face. “We can talk about whatever awful idea you’re thinking of then.” Aichi looks like he wants to argue, but she cuts him off before he can say a word. “You mentioned that you had something funny you wanted to tell me about on Line before this.”

“Oh! That.” In his sleep deprived state, Aichi seemed to be having a little bit of trouble following the sharp turn in the conversation, taking a moment to recollect his thoughts. “Yeah, Naoki had a disaster fight the other day with someone who wanted to join the club late. They’ll be joining us officially next term, but wanted to take the entrance exam now.” 

“A disaster fight?” 

“There’s really no other way to explain it.” Aichi grins, a bit apologetic. “He didn’t get a single grade one card in his hand the entire time. They just kept landing in his damage zone. He never got to ride from his starting vanguard.”

“Yikes.” 

They chat like that for a while, pretending that nothing had gone wrong, that there wasn’t holes where people should have been, that something wasn’t wrong with Aichi now. He does looks better by the time they decide to leave, seemingly a little more relaxed now, and Asaka thinks that maybe things will work out this time. At the very least, she’s done what she could for what little Aichi has told her, and there’s really nothing more she can do. For now, this is her best. 

The sun is setting when they open the door and walk out, Aichi right behind Asaka. She felt more at ease as well, the normalcy in her life returning in small bits. This, at least, hasn’t changed.

“Next week, Aichi. I’ll send you more details later.” She turns the other way, the train station the exact opposite way from Card Capital and Aichi’s home. 

“Asaka?” She looks back to see Aichi right outside of the entrance, unmoving. “Can you… can you promise me to try getting along with Kai, next time?” 

There’s a gnawing suspicion that this is a trick question, that there’s a catch here somewhere. But she can’t pinpoint what’s exactly wrong, and it was herself who had thrown Kai in with the rest of Q4 when she was telling him to bring his friends. Aichi seems fairly desperate as well, his hands shaking slightly as he fiddled with his bag strap. 

Asaka lets out a sigh before turning back to walk to the train station, her shadow long enough for her to imagine that following it will lead her back home. Before she steps away, she calls back to Aichi. “As long as you don’t expect me to go easy on him in Vanguard.”

She can feel Aichi’s smile on his face, even if she doesn't turn around to see it. “Thank you! Thanks for everything, Asaka!” She waves back without turning to face him. They’ll see each other again.

* * *

 

Kai stomps out of the room, seething, and nearly causes her to drop the tea that she’s graciously brought him and Ren. Asaka almost chases after him and tells him to sit his ass down and have a cup of tea before she makes him when she hears Ren’s voice from the other side of the room.

“Aa-chan, let’s share it together instead!” Immediately, all of her troubles vanished, her heart a little bit lighter at the thought of having some tea time with Ren. She carefully dashes to his side in his office and he stops spinning around on his chair to smile at her, reaching out to pluck a cup and a plate from the tray, waiting for her to pour. “It’s not coffee? I really like your coffee, Asaka.” 

“It’s lemon tea.” Her lips raise to a pout. “It’s Kai’s favorite, I can’t believe he just left like that after I did all that work for him.” 

Ren raises an eyebrow. “How did you know that this is Kai’s favorite? Does Aa-chan have a secret crush?” 

“I know because…” Huh. How did she know it was his favorite? “He might have said something while he was in AL4 during the Asia Circuit?”

“Wow, Aa-chan is so smart!” He claps his hands together a few times, before stopping with a bit of devious look on his face. “You remembered it from all the way back then?”

“Of course, Ren.” Asaka preened under the praise. Of course she remembered, it was important for... something, she thinks. It’s funny though, that she can’t help but remember such a mundane fact about him. “I promised that I would try and get along with him, remember?”

“Ehh?” Ren tilts his head cutely, and it takes all her willpower not to squeal. “You never made a promise like that with me.” 

“Ah, that’s right, I promised…” She couldn’t remember. It was strange, how many holes in her memory she was finding today. But if she couldn’t remember who she promised, it couldn’t have been that important, right? Asaka could only hope that was the case. “That’s weird. I’m not sure anymore.” 

Ren had a strange look in his eyes, a glint of excitement and hope. Did he know who she promised? Asaka really can’t think of anyone other than Ren who would try and make her get along with Kai Toshiki. “Try to remember! It was probably an important rival.” 

“Maybe it was Misaki?” But would Misaki really want her to get along with Kai? In Asaka’s opinion, Misaki probably wouldn’t care that much whether or not they got along well at all. It wasn’t something that she needed to worry about.

“Bzzt!” Ren crossed his arms to emphasize the fact she was incorrect. “Try again!”

“Uhm… Did Tetsu say something while we were traveling together during the Asia Circuit?” That would make some sense; Tetsu’s always scolding the two of them like the middle aged man he was deep inside, so if he had asked her something like that, it’s somewhat reasonable that she would have forgotten.

“Nope!” He shook his head this time, his red ponytail flying around and almost hitting Asaka in the face. “One more time!” 

She tries. She really really does, wracking her memory for anyone who could’ve told her; Ren wanted her to guess it after all, and she aims to please, and for some reason, she thinks that it’s probably important. There’s a weird sinking feeling that something isn’t wholly right here, that she and Ren should be having tea somewhere else instead, but she can’t for the life of her remember what it was. Ren looks incredibly hopeful beside her, smile wide and impatient. “Was… was it… Kai...?”

“Aww, you didn’t get it, Aa-chan…” He childishly blows his bangs out of his eyes and pulls his knees up to his chest, placing his chin on them. “I was really hoping you would too.” 

“I’m, I’m sorry Ren. Can I guess one more time?” Asaka feels awful, not just because she’s disappointed Ren, but because she’s disappointed herself. There’s definitely something missing in her memory, spots that should be filled that are now empty. What it is is completely beyond her, but she wishes she could remember.

“There’s no point. I don’t think you’ll remember.” Ren keeps pouting, sipping at his tea. “He’s a good friend. But this is what he wanted, after all.”

“What he… wanted?” 

Ren starts spinning his seat again. “He didn’t want anyone to remember him, and then he left.” She hears the frustration in his voice, irritation seeping through his childish demeanor. “It was  _ really  _ selfish of him, don’t you think?” Before she can answer, he sighs glumly and continues. “I guess why he did it wasn’t selfish. But the way he did it was.” 

“A friend?” She didn’t have any friends other than Ren, and sort of Tetsu, and maybe, if you were to squint your eyes a little bit and step back a few feet, Kyou. It was always just them in AL4, although Kyou left two years ago, and hasn’t been seen since. The idea that she would have made a close friend is foreign to her; she doesn’t have time for that when she’s helping out Ren. 

“Mhmm! You went to study with him some days and brought me back some really good cake each time. I was happy to see you so cheerful.” Ren’s voice was softer again, a little more thoughtful. “You haven’t gone since he left though. I miss the cake. And cheerful Asaka.” 

“How… long has it been?” Asaka’s unsure if she wants to hear the answer; everything seems like it’s been fine, nothing earth-shatteringly different from what she can remember; if  she’s forgotten something important, then she should have felt different, right?

“Hmmm… maybe about a week, now. You usually met him once a week. I was pretty sad to see you didn’t bring anything back when you went out today.” 

She immediately thinks about to about a week ago; she went to class, felt off and wanted a coffee, so she sent out a few messages on her phone and took a train and went to a cafe that she had heard good things about to meet someone. Asaka pulls out her phone, sending a quick apologetic look to Ren, and shifts through the messages. She can’t find the ones she sent last week.

“Aww, he’s so thorough.” She looks up to see Ren had scooted his chair closer to her and was currently peering at her Line messages. “It’s going to be hard for Kai like this.” 

“Kai?” What did Kai have to do with anything?

“Kai is looking for him!” Ren cheerfully chirped out as he pushed himself back to his original spot. “He came here to ask about our missing friend, actually. Kai got mad when I wouldn’t tell him anything.” He laughed a little. “I promised our friend that I wouldn’t tell anyone what he’s doing.” He looks up at Asaka conspiratorially, a sneaky grin on his face. “But I trust Aa-chan to not say a word to Kai, so it’s okay!” 

“I’m flattered, Ren. Of course you can trust me!” Asaka’s pleased with all the praise she’s getting, but something still feels off to her. “But is… is our friend coming back?” The word friend is strange, it doesn’t feel practiced, it doesn’t roll off her tongue the way she thinks it should. Friend, Asaka thinks, should be replaced with a different word altogether, but she can’t remember his name. 

“Well, Kai’s looking for him, so something interesting will probably happen.” Ren shrugs. “Kai’s stubborn. He won’t ever stop looking, especially if it’s him.” 

She takes in the information, slowly gathering herself. Maybe she should have followed Kai out the door, or if there’s still time, she could go get him that she wants to help look for him as well, maybe she should—

“Aa-chan!” Ren grabs her left wrist with both of his hands gently, and she jumps from the sudden touch. “He got a bunch of scary bodyguards protecting him. I don’t want you to get hurt.” 

“I can handle them, you don’t need to worry about me.” Asaka basks in the fact that he was worried about her, and turns it into strength. She has Ren’s support. She won’t lose. 

“You can’t go.” Ren doesn’t let go of her wrist. “I promised I wouldn’t look and if you go, I’d get lonely without you here. Everyone’s already left but you and Tetsu.” 

Asaka hesitates, for the first time, thinking about not following Ren’s instructions and going out and searching as well. But Ren’s face was one of genuine concern and worry, lines creased into his forehead as he matches her stare with a burning intensity, so she gently slips her right hand on top of Ren’s hands, and smiles. “I won’t go, then. I don’t want you to be worried.”

Ren cheers immediately (he’s not exactly happy, Asaka recognizes that, whoever this missing friend was seemed to bearing down on him) and finishes his tea in a few quick gulps. “Let’s play some Vanguard then! Kai left without playing me a single game.” 

“Let me put this away first so we don’t spill it then.” She gathers up the tray and turns to leave the room, but Ren grabs at her sleeve before she can get up.

“Asaka. If something bad happened, you’d come to talk to me about it, right?” The tone of his voice was playful, but Ren’s eyes were hard; he wanted a serious answer from her. 

“If it was something that I could deal with myself, then I would deal with it by myself.” Asaka shifts a little uncomfortably when Ren looks disappointed, wondering what kind of answer he was expecting instead. “But I wouldn’t do anything drastic like leaving without telling anyone. We’re Team AL4, right? The top of the Foo Fighters should work together.” 

Ren’s smile grows a bit wider and his shoulders slump a little, and he lets her go. “That’s right, Asaka.” 

She walks to the side break room and places the tray’s contents in the sink, sighing as she realizes that there’s still some tea in the pot. If Kai had stayed a little longer, she could have not had to waste the rest of it, and he might have heard something important, but the situation at hand was what it was now. With a sigh, Asaka pours the tea down the drain and gently rinses the cups and pot. What a waste. 

Asaka’s about to leave the room when she realizes there’s three mugs next to the coffee machine, instead of two. She frowns, thinking she’ll have to scold some lower ranked member of Foo Fighters as she reaches out for the blue mug, intending to put it back in the cupboard. But there’s a sense of nostalgia so strong that she almost cries when she picks it up, and she gently sets it back down where she saw it before. There seems to be a lot that she’s forgetting about, but Asaka truly hopes that one day, it’ll all come back to her, friends included.

* * *

 

Aichi looks properly contrite when he sits down in front of her in their usual spot in the cafe, exactly three months later than when they were supposed to meet. Of course he would be, Asaka thinks, when she had yelled at him over the phone for the better part of an hour when she finally remembered a few days ago and rushed to contact him somehow (Aichi didn’t pick up the first few times she called and she’s not proud of the sobbing that she did over his voicemail, but thankfully, Aichi is nice enough to not mention it). For his part, he was quiet while receiving her ire, squeaking out apologies whenever she took a moment to breath. 

While it is true that Asaka’s not sure what she would have done if she had known that Aichi was housing an alien parasite trying to destroy the world, but she would have done… something. At the very least, she could have teamed up with his sea of good friends and altogether, they would have done something. To not have even been given the chance to help, is what she’s upset about. But nonetheless it’s Aichi, and Aichi always had been thinking about the greater good, whatever that may be, and she finds it in herself to forgive him after their call. 

“I’m… I’m sorry…” It’s the first thing that either of them have spoken since sitting down. Aichi’s head is slightly bowed, hands tightly gripping his knees. He looks and sounds like he’s about to cry.

“You’ve said that already.” Asaka snaps. “I know you’re sorry and you know I’ve already said that it’s fine. There’s something else you should say instead.”

He winced. “I won’t… I won’t do it again.” He tries, the words coming out haltingly. “I won’t try to sacrifice myself for the better good without talking to other people again.” 

She nods, somewhat satisfied. “That’s better.” Asaka lets out a sigh and leans her head against her arm. “Trust your friends a bit more. We all just want what’s best for you.” 

“I know…” His head droops down further. “I’ve caused a lot of trouble for everyone, huh?” 

“You did.” Asaka’s response is curt, but she allows herself to soften a little bit as she reaches out and pats his head in what she hopes to be a comforting gesture. “But you’re back now, and you’re going to be making up for it. Now hurry up and take out your notes.”

Aichi looks up, alarmed and confused. “What?”

She snorts, getting out three notebooks and tossing them to him. “Your Vanguard club minions and I teamed up to gather your notes and homework for three months. None of us have time to tutor you on everything, so we divvied it up as best we could. I’m here for math and physics.” 

It was her idea. After a month of wondering who was gone, Asaka had gotten frustrated that she could do absolutely nothing for him, and had contacted Misaki about the situation. The other seemed confused that she cared so much, but gladly welcomed the help in making sure that Aichi’s return would be as smooth as possible, and they had met up every now and then to make sure they could teach Aichi what he had missed. Asaka herself never remembered Aichi, but finally had gotten the name out of Misaki after some prying. 

“You... you guys…” Aichi’s tearing up again, the corners of his lips turning upwards as he reaches out to leaf through the notebooks that she’s neatly transcribed from Naoki’s awful writing, alongside some notes from both her and Ren, detailing hints and tricks on how to think through the problems (mostly her), as well as some encouragement (mostly Ren). “I… Thank you so much…”

“Just don’t do it again, okay?” She scooted her chair and moved to sit next to him, opening the first notebook up and pointing to the first weeks of missed content. “Let’s get started.” 

“Yes!” Aichi hurriedly grabbed a pen and what seems to be a new notebook, and started copying the homework on a blank page, asking Asaka questions every now and then, and Asaka pointing out particular tricky parts to the concepts. She’s grateful that Aichi is naturally studious, picking up the problems and understanding things quickly (Asaka doesn’t envy Naoki, who had volunteered to make sure that Aichi could finish the home economic projects and figure a way for him to pass his physical education course) and they breeze through about a week’s worth of content before stopping for a quick break. 

“I really am grateful.” Aichi holds the mug of tea close to his heart, warming his fingers. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without this.” 

“You probably would have suffered in class by yourself for at least an entire month.” Asaka’s voice is dry. “I’m sure you weren’t going to bring it up because you felt like you brought it on yourself.” 

The awkward laughter in response is all she needs to hear before she rolls her eyes and scans the next page of material to go through. She may have done this the year before, but she has a hard time remembering some of the formulas herself. 

“Is there something I can do for you?” Aichi’s voice breaks her concentration. “To pay you back?”

She’s about to wave him off, she doesn’t need a reward other than the fact that he’s back, but the look on Aichi’s face convinces her otherwise. Asaka knows that Aichi would probably feel worse if she didn’t let him do something for her; he’s too well natured for his own good. “Buy me all of the drinks I have today. And all the days that I tutor you.”

He nods, clearly relieved that she mentioned something, but she’s not finished yet. There’s something else, but she’s not sure how to ask. 

“There’s an event I want to go to this weekend, and I don’t want to go by myself.” Asaka starts off slowly. “I’ll send you the details. Just come with me, and I’ll call everything square, okay?” 

“Sure! If I’m not busy, I’ll definitely come.” Aichi smiles, though a curious look in his eyes remain. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a secret.” She’s not ready to verbalize it, the event itself still feeling like it’s forever away, even though it’ll be here in a few days. “You’ll know it when you see it.” 

Aichi looks like he wants to argue, but decides against it, sitting back without a word. It’s better this way; she’s allowed to keep a few secrets too, especially since hers don’t involve the end of the world as they know it.

“By the way, how’re you and Kai? He was the first one to remember you, right?”

The long sigh from Aichi isn’t a good sign. “We’re still not together, if that’s what you’re asking about. I… I caused him the most trouble since he didn’t forget about me. I don’t think I should bother him further.” 

“Isn’t the fact that he didn’t forget a sign of how much he cares for you? True love and all.” Asaka presses him on gently. Kai had come in one more time after he had stomped out, beating Ren with laser focus to get any information on Aichi whatsoever. Seeing his pure determination to get to Aichi and bring him back safe and sound was moving, especially considering that she hadn’t remembered Aichi at the time. 

Aichi won’t look at her, choosing to fiddle with his pencil instead. “I… I don’t know. He got hurt because of me during the last few months…” 

“And he always chose to come back and keep looking, right?” 

“Yes, but... “ Another sigh escapes from Aichi’s lips. “I… I just…” 

“Just try talking to him next time.” Asaka interrupts him before he can finish. “The worst that’ll happen is that he says no and you two stay friends. Don’t wait until it’s too late.” 

“... okay.” He seems unconvinced, but nods his head tiredly. “Let’s get back to studying, okay?” 

Asaka nods, passing the notebook in her hands back to Aichi, who busies himself in reading while Asaka discreetly sends out a text message and asks Tsugumi for another drink, before looking at the pages alongside Aichi, making sure to answer any of his questions or re-explain a concept if he looked confused. 

Tsugumi delivers the lemon tea to their table just in time, since right after she leaves their table, Kai runs through the door, slamming it to the side. He stands there for a moment, breathing heavily and eyes searching the cafe, lighting up when he sees Aichi and dashing to his side. “Aichi! Are you okay? Where are you hurt...?!” Without thinking, he carefully places a hand on Aichi’s cheek, looking at him up and down to check for injuries.

Aichi himself had just jumped into the air, looking incredibly confused as Asaka casually drinks out of her still half full mug of coffee, placing the new cup of tea on the other side of the table. “Wh-what… Kai…?” 

“I got a message from her.” Kai points jerkily at Asaka. “That you were hurt and needed me?” 

“I, I, what? Asaka?” Aichi’s voice is jumping in pitch, his face turning a deep red. “What?” 

“Oh no.” Her voice is as monotone as she can make it. “Look, Ren just messaged that he needs me.” She shows them her phone screen, completely and obviously devoid of new messages before standing up and finishing her coffee, gathering two of the three notebooks she brought. “I better go.” 

Kai and Aichi seem incredibly confused, Aichi’s mouth wide open and Kai’s hand still on Aichi’s cheek, both of them frozen. She waves at them and then at Tsugumi and Eve, who seem to have also calmed down from Kai literally bursting into the cafe. “Remember what you promised, Aichi.” She turns as the realization of what just happened suddenly hits Aichi, and he starts to sputter uncontrollably. 

“Asaka! That’s...! This is!” 

She ignores him and walks through the door. “I’ll see you on Saturday!” 

When Asaka arrives home, she finds that she feels only a little bad about the setup; as always, she wants to see things through, and those two, she thinks, needed the push. Even if it doesn’t go as well as she thinks it will, Aichi at least, will feel better after his feelings are in the open. As for Kai… well, he gets a cute boy confessing his undying love to him, so she thinks it’s probably fine. Asaka jumps as her phone in her pocket buzzes twice, interrupting her thoughts.

‘That was really mean, Asaka!’

‘We talked through our feelings. Kai says thank you for the lemon tea.’

The second message had a photo attached to it, and she opens it without hesitation. It’s a simple picture of Aichi and Kai, sitting next to each other, awkwardly smiling and holding hands. Asaka smiles gently and sends back another message.

‘Don’t forget to invite me to the wedding.’

* * *

 

After that, the days pass by relatively quickly until it’s time to meet Aichi at the train station. As Asaka had suspected, their stop was packed, Aichi nervously fiddling with the straps of his bag as he surveyed the crowd, obviously anxious to try and walk through it all. She’s not going to let a crowd stop them, not today, so she grabs Aichi’s arm (ignoring his squeak) and drags him through the crowd to the building, stopping when she sees the three separate lines. 

“You’re standing in this one.” Asaka places him there and passes him a ticket, and she turns around to leave, to get to her line when she feels Aichi’s hand grabbing at her sleeve.

“Wait, where are we? You still haven’t told me what we’re doing today…” Aichi looks hopelessly lost, so she sighs and points to the ticket that she had just passed him, the brightly colored piece of paper simply stating ‘One Autograph Ticket for Kourin Tatsunagi’ in bold print, then shows him hers, which was for Suiko. 

“We’re going to see them. I didn’t want to come by myself, but I thought you would appreciate seeing her instead of Suiko.” Her voice was stiff; the anxiety of coming to see someone who doesn’t know who she is seeping through her veins. 

“This… this is…” He looks up at Asaka, understanding dawning on his face. 

“We can bring Misaki next time. She and Kourin were dating, yeah?” She tries to keep her voice steady, she really doesn’t want to be seen crying at an idol fan event. Crying at idol fan events were for creepy otakus, not one of the world’s renowned Vanguard fighters. “But for today. Just us two, okay?” 

Aichi’s face is all gentleness and empathy, and he nods. “Thank you for this, Asaka. It couldn’t have been easy to get. Morikawa always wants to try and go to these fan events.” 

“Kourin’s ticket was easier than Suiko’s. I had to stay up all night refreshing the page for hers.” She’s shaking a little, but she still has it under control, like usual, like always. “It’s a good sign, since we’ll need to get two Kourin tickets next time.” 

Aichi reaches out and touches her trembling fingers. “We could bring Naoki and get him to go to Suiko.” He suggests gently. “He could tell her that she looks too old for a sailor fuku again.” 

Asaka laughs, a pitch too high to be called normal. She can handle seeing Suiko again by herself, she thinks (she hopes), she’s well adjusted enough nowadays. She’s got something to say all planned out, and she’ll see her again at a different fanmeet. “Maybe. I’ll meet you at this entrance, I’m not sure which line is moving faster.” 

Aichi nods, gives her another encouraging smile, and settles down in the line in front of him, waving at her to go on. And she does, she moves robotically to the last line (only very slightly longer than Kourin’s, she notes), and waits, reviewing in her mind what she wants to say like a chant, a prayer of goodwill to a god that at once hates her but doesn’t exist. 

A staff member approaches her once there’s only thirty people left between her and Suiko, and passes her a post-it note with a pen. “Can you write your name on this? Suiko will be using it to spell your name correctly!” 

The staff member looks at her with some amount of sympathy in their eyes as she desperately tries to get her hand to stop shaking long enough to write her damn name. “Yeah, it’s really nerve wracking when they’re all really pretty, huh? I was the same way when I first came to a fanmeet.” Asaka finally jots her name down and passes it back to the staff member with a stiff nod. They didn’t know the half of it. 

Seemingly without end, the line scoots forward, both agonizingly slow and incredibly fast, and Asaka really wonders if it was all worth it when she’s not even sure if she can keep it together at the front, when she’s barely able to keep herself from giving up and selling the ticket to someone else in the room to get her money back. It wasn’t even as though Suiko was allowed to be herself here, either, expectations of what it means to be a proper idol beating down her back. 

But she wants to see Suiko again, if only to say goodbye to her properly in heart, as cheesy and melodramatic as it sounds, so Asaka stands her ground and moves forward with the line. 

She hears Suiko’s laughter when she’s the fifth one in line, and her heart and cheeks warm. It’s been a while since she’s last heard it, and it was nice to hear it in real life again, instead of replaying it over and over in her memories. There’s a glimpse of her hair and a quick moment where she sees a smile when she scoots up to the third place in line, and her palms start sweating in response. The person right in front of her bows multiple times as they receive their signature, and Asaka sees Suiko’s face in the first time in months. It’s her turn now, she realizes as the person in front walks away, clutching the simple piece of cardstock to their chest like a lifeline. Asaka wishes that was her for a moment, just a simple fan who’s glad to see her favorite singer and get her signature.

Suiko, oblivious to her internal struggles, waves at her with a big smile, calling her up. “Miss… Narumi Asaka?”

Asaka slowly walks up as Suiko signs the cardboard, writing her name first and adding hearts around it. It was very much a cute signature, she thinks without really recognizing what’s happening. All the things she wanted to say have disappeared, the words drying up in her mouth. She vaguely realizes that Suiko is saying something, probably something that fits in with her idol image, but she can’t hear her, the beating of her heart drowning everything out. Suiko cheerfully presents her the signboard and she realizes that time was already out, that the next person in line was waiting, and the staff members were eager to make her leave. So Asaka does what she thinks is probably what anyone else would do in the same situation. Blurt out whatever she can and deal with the consequences later.

“We should Vanguard fight again!” 

The idol in front of her looks shocked at her sudden outburst and looks at her curiously, tilting her head slightly to the side. “Again? I don’t think we’ve ever cardfought before…”

“We have.” Asaka presses on. “And you lost, but I had fun. It was a close game, and Ren cheered for us both.” She’s not sure why she’s recounting this particular memory, Suiko would never remember it, Asaka knows, but it feels like she would burst if she didn’t spit it out. “We… we were going to go to a cute cafe and take pictures of the foam animals the next day. But you didn’t come back to school.” She can hear the staff whispering around her and knows she’s going to be kicked out if she doesn’t get herself under control. “You… I… Ren misses you. Visit Fukuhara again, when you have the chance.” Asaka takes the signboard, bows, and tries to leave before she gets banned from these events, but the look on Suiko’s face stops her. 

“I might not remember it well, but… if I lost… then I’ll have to try again, for UltraRare’s honor.” Suiko has the same look on her face as she did when Asaka said that they could go to a cute cafe together, a gentle, warm look that bypasses her normal idol facade. “You said that you’ll be at Fukuhara?”

Her heart soars. “Yes. I’ll be waiting.” 

“Hopefully, I won’t be long.” Suiko gently claps her hands together, once again twinkling brightly (maybe, Asaka thinks, sparkling is just a Suiko thing). “I’ve always wanted a cute friend to go to little cafes with.” 

The staff sends her off after that with a wave and Asaka’s feet automatically move her away (she thinks that it’s lucky that her legs know to do that, since she’s not sure if she’s really in control of her body right now; she also thinks it’s lucky that she’s still not banned). She sees Aichi waiting with his own board near the entrance and she walks up to him, still a little shaken. 

“Did she remember you at all?” Aichi seems hopeful, hugging the signboard tightly to his chest. “Kourin didn’t, but maybe…”

“Suiko didn’t remember me at all either.” He deflates at her words, disappointed. “But, I think that a part of her recognized me. She said that she might visit Fukuhara.” 

“That’s great news!” Aichi perks up, a large smile appearing on his face. “It would be good to be able to fight with all of them again, huh?” 

“It would be.” The two of them walk together slowly, carefully keeping the boards as nice as possible in the busy streets of the city. They don’t get too far before Aichi stops, biting his lip.

“Wait, uhm…” Aichi points to a nearby cafe, a faint pink dusting on his cheeks. “Could we… stop there for a moment? I’m kind of tired from all the people and waiting in line.”

“For a world ranked cardfighter with tons of fangroups, you’re pretty bad socially.” She shakes her head, a little amused. “Of course. I want a drink as well.” 

They walk in together, and while the coffee here wasn’t nearly as good as cafe they usually frequent (or Suiko’s coffee), it’s still nice to drink, and they lose track of time as they engage in a few cardfights and having simple idle conversations about how Aichi was going to reinstate the Miyaji Cardfight Club while resting their legs.

Asaka’s having enough of a good time that almost misses the noise of the front door opening and an achingly familiar, lilting ‘oh’. She’s scared to look back, scared of the disappointment that might come after she realizes she’s wrong again and her hopes are dashed. But thankfully, the person she wanted to see the most today walks over and pulls the chair next to her out, smiling at her. 

“Is this seat taken, Miss Narumi Asaka?” Suiko asks, all gentle mischief and mysterious wonder and maybe even a little bit of a shy sweetness peaking through.

Asaka smiles back. “It’s yours if you want it, Suiko.” 

She gets home a while later; messages from a new number she doesn’t recognize flashing on the screen. Asaka opens them and laughs, changing her home screen’s wallpaper again, a new picture of her and Suiko with peace signs at the cafe, this time with some sort of filter that gives them both flower crowns, before walking into the break room where the three mugs reside and turning on the faucet. 

Her guest needs to have a clean mug for when she comes back, after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading this monstrosity someone please stop me before i make another
> 
> also asasuiko is cute and ill fill their ship tag by myself if i have to


End file.
